On Thursday, December 12th, and Thursday, December 19th students in the 7th grade at St. Angela Merici School had the opportunity to read to their 1st grade prayer partners in Spanish. They read “La oruga muy hambrienta” (“The Very Hungry Caterpillar”) by Eric Carle. Students had been practicing for several weeks on pronunciation, fluency, and using emotion while reading.

After reading the story to their prayer partners, students worked in predetermined groups of four to six, with both 1st and 7th graders, and created a poster to depict food that was good for your health and food that was bad for your health in Spanish. They had to create two sections of the poster “La comida buena para la salud” and “La comida mala para la salud.” They glued pictures of the foods in the correct area and labeled them in Spanish.

As a special surprise, room parents from the 1st grade supplied fresh fruit from the story. Students were able to enjoy a healthy snack of strawberries, oranges, apples, and watermelon. Once students had finished their poster and eating, they were able to work together on a word search with the food from the story.

This was the first graders introduction to Spanish in school. Students in K-3 currently take Chinese once a week. Students in 4th-6th grade take Spanish once a week and students in 7th and 8th grade have Spanish twice a week with 40 minute periods. This was a rewarding and enjoyable experience for all students involved.